A Public Service Announcement: Don’t Be Like Jed

Hey kids, this is Eric with a very important public service announcement.

Moving can be a difficult process — especially for teenagers. Being uprooted from an environment in which you have learned to thrive and saying goodbye to the friends with whom you have developed strong relationships for a strange new place where you don’t know anyone is an extraordinarily trying undertaking at such a critical juncture in your social and emotional development.

Often times, in such a situation, you may find yourself feeling pressured to compromise your values in an attempt to gain the approval and acceptance of a new social group. It may start with them asking to borrow your Algebra II homework at lunch so they can copy your answers. Then you may be tempted to have a drink — or many drinks! — at a party. Then you may meet a cute girl or  boy who manipulates you into sending revealing photographs of yourself to her/him over the phone (typically, in cases of “sexting” it is girls who are pressured to send photos). Then you may be offered illegal drugs under the bleachers of the school baseball field.

As much as you may desire to once again feel that sense of belonging you had at your old school, it is important that you remain true to yourself and resist the aforementioned temptations. In other words, don’t be like Jed:

“Kerry Wood” is a depressant commonly prescribed to treat anxiety associated with late-inning high-leverage situations. Taken recreationally in larger doses, however, it is addictive and known to produce effects similar to “Mark Prior” — a drug in the benzodiazepine family.

Just because you suddenly find yourself in an uncomfortable new environment does not mean you should abandon the principles that made you the person you are. If the people you aim to make your “friends” are pressuring you to do so, perhaps you should reevaluate your desire to establish friendships with them in the first pace.